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April Baumgarten

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April Baumgarten joined the Grand Forks Herald May 19, 2015, and covers crime and education. She grew up on a ranch 10 miles southeast of Belfield, where her family raises registered Hereford cattle. She double majored in communications and history/political science at Jamestown (N.D.) College, now known as University of Jamestown. During her time at the college, she worked as a reporter and editor-in-chief for the university's newspaper, The Collegian. Baumgarten previously worked for The Dickinson Press as a city government and energy reporter in 2011 before becoming the editor of the Hazen Star and Center Republican. She then returned to The Press as a news editor, where she helped lead an award-winning newsroom in recording the historical oil boom.

GRAND FORKS — Dru Sjodin was a woman who could easily represent someone in anyone’s life — a daughter, a sister, a best friend, the girl next door. It’s one of the reasons her abduction on Nov. 22, 2003, from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks has resonated so strongly with those who heard her story, said East Grand Forks Police Chief Michael Hedlund. “You can picture her as someone in your life,” he said.

GRAND FORKS - Two men were arrested in early November while allegedly trying to smuggle Mexican men into the U.S. at the Canadian border in North Dakota. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers made the arrests Nov. 3 at the Pembina and Dunseith ports of entry, according to news releases. In Pembina, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen was driving a rental vehicle at approximately 8:45 p.m. Nov. 3, according to the release. "Due to inconsistencies in his story, the man was sent inside for further inspection," the release said.

BISMARCK -- The North Dakota Department of Health Division of Medical Marijuana has selected two more companies to operate as medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, the department announced Thursday, Nov. 15. We-Mend LLC will be operating as Strive Life and will locate its facility in Grand Forks and HOFW LLC (Harvest of Williston) will operate in Williston, the department said in a news release.

GRAND FORKS — Kenzie Holm's car purred, but not for the reason it is supposed to. A kitten that took an 80-mile ride in the engine compartment of Holm’s vehicle was stuck under the hood, but mechanics at the Rydell Car Service Center were able to pull the little black fur ball to safety while changing the oil.

BISMARCK — Republican Kelly Armstrong is projected to take North Dakota’s U.S. House seat. With 357 of 424 precincts reporting as of 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, Armstrong, a state senator from Dickinson, had 62 percent of the vote in the three-way race for the state’s only seat in the House, according to incomplete and unofficial results.

FORT YATES, N.D. — The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has raised almost $250,000 to pay for costs related to voting, including giving free IDs to tribal members after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new North Dakota voter identification law.

GRAND FORKS — A Grand Forks woman who killed her children sent several text messages to others before turning a gun on herself, including one stating, “Nobody is going to have to deal with us anymore.” More than 200 pages obtained this week by the Grand Forks Herald detail the deaths of 35-year-old Astra Felicia Nicole Volk and three of her children — Tyler, 14; Aiden, 10; and Arianne, 6. The children were fatally shot by Volk in early May at their Grand Forks home.

FORT TOTTEN, N.D. -- Lionel Dunn was the 111th person to get a free tribal ID card from the Spirit Lake Nation. The Fort Totten man checked out his new card with a smile Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Blue Building, the center for tribal government on the reservation. Dunn was a part of a steady flow of tribal members who trickled into the building this week so they could get new IDs.

GRAND FORKS — Meth and heat exposure contributed to the death of a Grand Forks man in the county jail after an hours-long standoff, officials said. Samuel James Nelson, 36, died July 9 from “excited delirium associated with methamphetamine toxicity and prolonged exposure to a hot environment,” Jail Administrator Bret Burkholder said, based on information he received from the Grand Forks County coroner.